The Palatial Town and the Work by Siloe

After the fall of Granada in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella desired to underline its importance with a series of buildings, among which there is their tomb.

Their grand-son the emperor Charles continued this process of "Christianization" of its architecture with more buildings in which Renaissance art proclaimed the empire and turned Granada into a palatial city with many works by Diego Siloé.

The most outstanding Renaissance work in Granada, and possibly in all of Spain, is the Palace of Charles V, designed by Pedro Machuca in the heart of the Alhambra as a symbol of the new power. Further addtions in the precints of the Nasrid Kings are the Pillar of Charles by Niccolo da Corte and the Door of the Pomegranates. Other examples oof note in civil architecture showing the transition from the Gothic to the new "Roman" influence are the Hospital Real, designed in 1511 by Enrique Egas and the College of Noble Young Ladies (Colegio de las Niñas Nobles) by Juan de Marquina, responsible also for the façade of La Curia (old university founded by Charles V).

The Cancillería already presents a mannerist façade (end 16th century) by Francisco del Castillo. Under domestic architecture, worthy of note are the Casa de los Tiros and Palacio del Marqués de Caicedo, in the mannerist style. For religious architecture there is a fundamental building: the Cathedral. Over Gothic ground plans by Egas and Gil de Hontañón, Siloé designed a new concept of Renaissence temple in 1528 and this can be seen mainly in the Royal Chapel and the Main Chapel and some façades. An outstanding work is the church of San Jerónimo convent, the speulchre of El Gran Capitán the top of which was designed by Siloé en 1528. The artistic transition may be seen furthemore in the church of Santo Domingo at the convent of Santa Cruz la Real (with a plateresque façade) and in the façades of some mudéjar churches (San Cecilio, San Gil, San Idelfonso or Santa Ana) most of them by Siloé and Juan de Maeda.

Where as Granada is the principal example of imperial architecute, the churches of some provincial towns are proof of the building spree undertaken by the bishops in view of the avalanche of conversions. Thus, the parish churches in Iznalloz and Montefrío are Renaissance examples by siloé, as are those of Illora and the church of San Gabriel at loja. In Antequera, in the province of Málaga, there is the Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor, the first Renaissance building in the Kingdom of Granada. The Cathedral in Málaga is on this route; it was designed in 1528 as a Gothic temple by Egas and Pedro López, but the project was modified in 1541 by Siloé and it was continued by other Andalusian Renaissance architects, such as Diego
de Vergara and Andrés de Vandelvira.